General Motors’ latest Chevrolet Corvette will be the most powerful version of the iconic American sports car ever produced. The 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 will be powered by a twin-turbocharged, 5.5-liter V8 engine, generating over 1,000 horsepower and 828 foot-pounds of torque, placing it among elite supercars that often cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“This thing pulls like a freight train,” said Tadge Juechter, Corvette’s executive chief engineer, during a media event. “We expect this car to be essentially the fastest car we’ve ever built by a long measure.”
The previous most powerful Corvette was the 2019 ZR1, which produced 755 horsepower and 715 foot-pounds of torque with a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine. Juechter mentioned that the new ZR1 would “comfortably” exceed the previous top speed of 212 mph.
GM has yet to release pricing details for the 2025 Corvette ZR1, including an additional “ZTK” performance package, but it will be announced closer to the vehicle’s production next year. The 2019 Corvette ZR1 started at $121,000.
The ZR1 is part of what GM calls the “Corvette family,” which includes the Corvette Stingray starting at about $70,000, the hybrid E-Ray, and the approximately $112,000 Z06 track car.
“We’re happy with the way it’s going. This is the next step in that whole approach,” said Brad Franz, director of Chevy car and crossover marketing.
GM has confirmed an all-electric Corvette is in the works, although a timeline has not been provided. There have also been discussions about a Corvette SUV, but Franz declined to comment on these future models. Analysts suggest that expanding the Corvette brand could significantly increase its value, with estimates ranging between $7 billion and $12 billion.
Sales of the Chevrolet Corvette have been consistent, with roughly 34,500 vehicles sold annually for the past two years. In 2019, GM redefined the Corvette with a mid-engine design to enhance performance and handling.
Low-volume models like the ZR1 are designed to generate buzz and attract buyers to the brand, ultimately boosting sales of more affordable Corvettes. “The ZR1 is the range-topper. It’s the halo vehicle. It’ll bring tons of attention to the car and actually help sell the other models,” Juechter explained. This strategy has helped maintain the Corvette’s relevance and lifted its average transaction price to about $106,000.
Franz anticipates the price point will continue to rise with the introduction of the ZR1 and the growing sales of the track-focused Z06, whose average buyer has a household income of $311,000. The hybrid Corvette, starting at around $105,000, is also expected to boost revenue, with GM planning to increase the E-Ray’s production to 10% of total capacity from the current 2% to 3%.
The success of these performance models has kept the sole Corvette production plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, operating on two shifts since 2019.
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